Have you heard of Lifepoint? I don't know if it's grown in your area, but a very good friend of mine is a member of it; I guess you can call it church; the impression she's given me is that it's about god (not jesus), being spiritual, doing the right thing, and it's meant to attract a younger generation.

Instead of pretending priests don't rape little boys, they've just moved away from the archaic structure completely. Let me know if you're interested in finding out any more, I can get my friend to shoot you an email or something

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XC and DF have a long history together. It's best to just stay out of it.

I'll repeat myself for about the hundredth time. If you don't like what goes on in the politics forum, don't come in here. By the very nature of the discussions, it's usually pretty contentious. Lot more shit gets tossed around here, and that's ok because it STAYS in here.

Coming in here and bitching about what's going on in here just makes it worse.

I'd appreciate information on that. One thing about churches here is that we live in evangelical central, I mean Ted Haggard's mega church is right down the street. A lot of churches in the area crank it up to eleven just because it's so "normal" here.

As far as what she believes I know she's still hashing that out (like most people). She believes in God, Jesus and the basic teachings of behavior in the Bible. She considers all of the more supernatural stuff of the bible more like a story rather than fact. She stears away from those who believe the Bible to be a literal historical document. Like most kids she didn't pay a heck of a lot of attention to what was being said in church as a kid so she's diving back into all of it now. I suggested Presbyterian because I was raised in that church and always thought it was nice and laid back but she'd be more than happy to check out Lifepoint though a quick Google search didn't turn up anything local.

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On a separate train of thought; why does she NEED a church?

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What do you mean? "Need" would be a strong word I suppose but she wants a church so she has a spiritual adviser like a preacher or minister and a like minded community to mingle with. I suppose the same reasons most people go to church.

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Yeah, I realize need was a strong word, and didn't mean it in a "need to eat" kind of way. If there's no lifepoint in your area, she's going to probably be stuck with one of the bigger denominations, and realistically, that just sucks, because I don't think that's what she's looking for.

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Honestly I think this church she just went to is pretty good. It sounds a lot like the one I was raised in so she won't see any of the "shows of spirit" as her friend calls them. She really just wants to learn more bout the Bible and be surrounded by people who have similar beliefs but won't go slamming her for being a more liberal minded theist. Thanks for your suggestion though, I appreciate it.

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Another big reason is that it's hard to balance her beliefs with mine. She wants to expose the children to her views so taking the kids to church is a way from them to learn about God and Jesus. While she wants the kids to have enough information to make up their own minds she doesn't want to brain wash them or anything like that either. It just takes a few tries I suppose before you find a good fit.

On a side note she invited some friends from church over here for fourth of July and two of them ganged up on me and tried to convert me. One straight up said that she felt sorry for my wife because while she'll be basking in heaven one day I'm going to burn in hell...it was hard to not tell her to fuck off and give me back the brisket she was eating. .

My wife is all about having friends who share her faith but got super pissed that they didn't respect me enough to just keep their mouths shut. This new church on the other hand seems to have people that are a bit more tolerant of different view pints, or at least they aren't as vocal.

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God if I ever marry an atheist and have friends come over that consistently try to "show her the way of Jesus" or any such bull there's gonna be a shotgun party in my house. I can't stand forced conversion... even though that's what my faith has done for centuries.

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"Call a cop he robbed Delmore blind!!!"
Rick Jeanerette after Marty Biron's diving save back in 2000.

"I'm going to go to the spa and have a hot tub and massage and relax," Miller said. "That's it, and it's back to work tomorrow." Ryan Miller after clinching the North East division.

Yeah she was pretty pissed. I'd be asking for it if I brought it up or at church but I was in my garage watching them all eat the BBQ I had spent two days making. I don't remember what i said exactly but the mother and son who were talking shit left about a half hour later.

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This. I know several. To be frank, i was trying to stay out of this forum because it seemed like it was something that would piss me off. But honestly, there are several churches out there that are normal, they just preach the message and you are done. No weird "must bop you on the head to heal you" crap. etc etc. just keep looking.... your wife will find a good one soon, she just picked a crazy one... not that im saying there is anything where with how they do things, i just dont agree with it.

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LETS GO BUFFALO!

Well, from what you said about her wanting to be a part of a community, yet maintain her own spritual connection, and from you saying you'd like to blend her and your traditions and faiths, I'd have to say the first thing that came to mind to me was Unitarianism, even before the CC brought it up and feathers got ruffled.

The UU church takes respect for all beliefs as central to its mission. It doesn't do a lot of the stuff that might be considered as dogmatic brainwashing (like reciting credes about "Jesus is the only Son of God", "I believe in the Holy Trinity", "The God of Israel is great, the only true God, and will kick some ass if you don't believe"-type stuff) that are included in some of the other traditions I've been exposed to. And I grew up in the Episcopal Church, and have experience with Presbyterian, Catholic, and Reform Jewish services as well.

In my experience, the UU Church services I've seen give sort of the most space for personal interpretation while maintaining a supportive and spiritual community. Might be worth checking out.

before I say what i am about to say, i just want it to be konwn im saying the Catholic Church is the one true church(real point of comment is below, im just going to ignore comments about this statement)


that being noted

My advice would be to see if there are any "Church of Christ" churches in your area, and see if she would be interesting in attending one of those.

my friends' dad is a preacher there, and he is a pretty down to earth guy.

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PSA: I am an overly sarcastic person. If you take me at my word, then i will most likely anger and offend you.

it is probably a good thing you are going to ignore comments from your first statement, cuz I would whole heartedly disagree with you. While catholicism is a very good denomination, I cannot agree with Purgotory, or praying to the Mary, or any other saint that isn't Jesus.

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LETS GO BUFFALO!

I can't agree with any religion that sweeps fucking little boys under the rug

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No offense, but that's a cop out. You're basically saying 'My religion is right, your religion is wrong', which is abject bullshit. Then you're going to ignore any rebuttal? Tough, I'll type it anyways.

Your religion may be right FOR YOU. Another religion may be right FOR SOMEONE ELSE.

This shows a complete lack of respect for other belief systems and religion, and is downright offensive to me. This is why humans have been killing each other for thousands of years. We can't get past this urge to impose our beliefs on everyone else.

If you want to be a Catholic, cool. (Although the pedophilia thing should logically be a turnoff.)
If you want to be Baptist, cool.
If you want to be Lutheran, cool.
If you want to be Buddhist, cool.
If you want to be Muslim, cool.
If you want to believe that there might be a higher power out there, but none of our established religions have it right, then cool.

The Catholic church is one religion. Nothing more, nothing less.

Not just pedophilia, the Catholic Church also puts women trying to become clergy on par with child rape (which, if that's the case, shouldn't there be one female priest for every outed abuse case? ) and the Pope himself claims that condoms help spread AIDS instead of helping prevent the spread of the disease.

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mechaphil

There are thousands of religions in the world and millions (if not more) spanning the entire history of man. To think that your one set of ideas is the "one truth" and that ALL others are damned is nuts.

My wife's church buds come over here and have the balls to tell me I'm going to hell because I don't believe in Jesus and the whole time they have a smile on their narrow minded faces. They think it's their duty and that they're doing me a favor. At no time does it cross their minds that they should be tolerant or maybe just shut the hell up. Common sense plays no part, just: "Come to Jesus!". Never mind that I have my own beliefs, never mind that they are eating the food I paid for and cooked, never mind they're in my garage sipping the beer I bought or that common decency would make most people politely keep their opinions to themselves. They march forward with this "You're gonna burn unless I save you" speech from behind a shield of christian dogma and entitlement. Now heaven forbid I randomly bring up how I think they're wrong! How do you think they'd react? Exactly.

The idea that your religion is the only "right" religion is what turns religion from something healing and good in the world to something that causes division and pain.

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That really has nothing to do with the 'religion' aspect of the church, it's just the cuntbags that are currently in 'power'. That's the biggest problem I have about church bashers (I will just start to vaguely use you as an example here, sorry) yes there are creepy boy touching rapists that pose as priests to get some and escape persecution because the church is about redemption and forgiveness... I think. It is hard to tell what it stands for anymore, but it sure as fuck isn't for the rape of small boys.
They have repeatedly fucked themselves over, but I still stand by the church and have faith that they are trying to keep these rapists out, that they are trying to fix these things. But sweeping little boy fuckings under the rug is most definitely the wrong way to go. Hell I would consider it criminal. Why they escape justice is beyond me.

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"Call a cop he robbed Delmore blind!!!"
Rick Jeanerette after Marty Biron's diving save back in 2000.

"I'm going to go to the spa and have a hot tub and massage and relax," Miller said. "That's it, and it's back to work tomorrow." Ryan Miller after clinching the North East division.